If so, there are some very important decisions
that you are faced with regarding your retirement plan. Usually you
will have three options to choose from., You can leave the plan with
your previous employer, roll your old plan over to your new company or
you can establish a 401(k) rollover.

What are my options?

Most investors do not choose to keep their assets
in a company sponsored retirement plan because of the limited
investment options available. Most 401(k) and profit sharing plans
only give you eight to twelve different investment options. Company
sponsored plans also do not allow contributions for former employees.

Rolling your account into your new company may be
an acceptable option if you are certain you will be working there for
a significant amount of time and if the plan is particularly good. A
rollover to your new employer will allow you to keep your retirement
consolidated and may be a simple matter. Again, you may run into the
drawback of limited investment choices in a corporate plan.

With a 401(k) Rollover IRA account at a
qualified investment company, you can invest in almost any mutual fund,
stock, bond, or other investment vehicle you so desire. This account
is only limited by the selection of investments offered by the
investment company and the types of investments authorized for retirement
accounts by the IRS. This flexibility makes the 401(k) IRA Rollover
option the most appealing. IRA Rollover accounts, unlike traditional
IRA accounts and Roth IRAs can also be rolled into employer 401k plans
at a future date.

How does it work? The first step in the 401(k)
rollover process is to select an investment company and an advisor to
work with. One way to receive objective investment advice is to
select an advisor at an independent firm. One benefit of
independent advisors is that they are not tied to in-house proprietary
products and have more incentive to objectively recommend the
investments best suited for their clients. Independent firms also
usually offer a wider selection of investment options.

Once a firm and an advisor have been selected,
the process of rolling the funds over can begin. You start by opening
a Rollover IRA account. This account will give you the same tax
deferral advantages of your 401k plan, combining it with a much
wider range of investment options. With most firms, the only expenses
associated with the account are the annual maintenance fees (if any),
and standard mutual fund loads and commissions on trades you pay
anyway. Remember that with a Rollover IRA, you cannot make the same
annual contributions you could with a traditional or Roth IRA.

After the rollover account has been opened, you
can have your representative actually transfer the funds. This
process will depend in large part on the company that holds the plan
you had with your former employer. In most cases, you will have to
fill out a distribution form that you will submit to your former
employer. Larger companies usually have standard forms and sometimes
departments that facilitate the rollovers, in these cases the process
may be as simple as providing the former employer with the new account
number given to you by your rep. With a smaller company you will
usually need to deal with the investment company used by your former
employer, this will often consist of having your new investment
representative send a form to the investment company requesting your
assets. The ideal way to transfer the funds is to have your employer
send the funds directly to your new investment company, you can also
either have a check made out to you (60 day rollover) or made out to
the company holding your Rollover IRA (direct rollover). You may want
to avoid transferring the investments that you hold in the 401(k)
account (such as mutual funds) directly into your new account and have
cash transferred. A cash transfer is usually the quickest and most
efficient transfer method.

What are the Penalties?

There are usually no penalties, tax or
otherwise, that you incur when rolling over a 401(k) from the new
provider but could be from the old provider, depending on the
situation. However, if you do a 60 day rollover (meaning the check
you receive is made out to you) and take possession of the funds, you
will be penalized on any amount that you do not put into your rollover
account within 60 days. Remember that in a rollover IRA, like a 401k
or any other qualified retirement plan, there is a 10% penalty for the
early withdrawal of funds (before age 59 ½) and withdrawals are taxed
at your normal tax rate. Therefore, unless you are using the money
for one of the free early distributions (first time homebuyer,
qualified higher education expenses, etc.), you should make it a
priority to keep these funds invested in a retirement plan.

Mutual Funds
are sold by Prospectus only. Please carefully consider investment
objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. For this and
other information please call 1-800-559-2900 to request a Prospectus. Please
read it carefully before you invest.